Maltopentaose has heretofore been prepared by hydrolysis of starch or amylose utilizing various amylases. This method of preparation, however, suffers from disadvantages in that it is necessary to prepare the necessary amylases, and the hydrolyzate contains large amounts of maltooligosaccharides other than maltopentaose, making purification of maltopentaose very difficult.
Maltopentaose is now widely used, for example, as a substrate for the determination of serum amylase. Thus, mass-production of maltopentaose is expected. However, as described above, this cannot be realized by the conventional method of preparation.